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What's a Wreck?

A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.

I knew this was the perfect place to come and get a nice laugh to start my birthday out on the right foot. In addition to the laugh (and I do agree with Icanhasyarn that this one looks like a gallows, which is a particularly horrific motif for a birthday cake), I also have the comfort of knowing my birthday cake - since I will be making it myself - will look ever so much more festive and happ.

Why all the hate for cupcake cakes? I mean, I wouldn't have one for a wedding cake or anything, but I think they can be kind of fun when they're done well. My only issue with them is that there tends to be more than the usual amount of frosting, which ... YMMV, but for me, more than a quarter inch frosting thickness is entirely too much.

yes, i agree it looks like a gallows!! maybe they were going to play hangman as a game at the birthday party?i don't get the little blob of 4 cupcakes off to the side, with the candle and the lettering all squished together. there was plenty of space on the cake itself and those extra cupcakes could have been used to balance out the bottom of the cake.decimal point?

I like cupcake cakes, because while cupcakes are fabulous, sometimes you just want a tableau you can't put on a cupcake, and this allows for a regular cake experience without the hassle and dishwashing of regular cake.

I agree with the folks who are questioning the cupcake hating. LOL. The first time I saw one I thought it was a pretty clever idea...And a heck of a lot easier to deal with in a classroom setting than a regular cake that you have to try and cut evenly.

That said, I do hope that Jace felt completely happy on his b-day and not just happ. :)

I'm curious....I know that you say these cakes have to be professional and have to be paid for, but what forms of proof are people giving you? I cannot believe you think this cake was done by a professional. It's not the first time either. I'm curious....why does it have to be professional anyway? A funny/ugly/demented cake is still going to be fun to look at. Just my honest opinion.

I'm going to defend "cupcake cakes". My son had his 9th b-day party in a bowling alley, and we got a cupcake cake with a darth vader theme (the kids LOOOOOVES star wars).... it was tastefully done, and half of the cupcakes were white, half were chocolate - so everyone got what they wanted. AND, I didn't have to mess around with cutting cake and crap like that.

I mean - you have to be appropriate, right? A darth vader cupcake cake is GREAT for a 9 yo's party.... maybe not so for other occasions, though!

EEWW! as a cupcake cake hater, there is too much frosting. It does not help in school unless you send a box of wipes and an extra 20 minutes for clean up in with your kid. Just send the regular cupcake with sprinkles folks, it works a lot better.

I dunno, guys. I'm all for being hard on the professional decorator who should know better, but a mom at home just trying to do something special for her kid?Yeah leaving off the Y was pretty obvious, but not everyone has the mad cake decorating skillz you pros (should) have.

I've never had a cupcake "cake," but I agree they look totally unappetizing. I'm sure that most of the dis-appeal is the enormous amount of frosting that seems to be required to mortar them together.

I also dislike most of the very fancy ones made with what looks like sheets of soft plastic--ick. While they might be admirable for the detail and design (the well executed ones, that is), simply NONE of them look good to eat, to me; I keep thinking, "Well, nice sculpture, now where's the cake?" But then, I never was one of those kids who noshed on Play-Doh either, which that stuff also resembles... and I can't help but wonder does the poor cake smell like it too? Double Ewww!

I had a cupcake cake for my son's 13th b'day. It was a '1' and a '3' side by side, in his high school colors. At that age, they're past the character cakes and yet you want to do something cool (but not woman-undressing-cool...as in Tracy's cake). He and his friends thought it was neat but it didn't look like a solid mass of frosting either.

Wow. The sad thing about this is, it would have been so easy to make it look reasonable; just take 2 or three cupcakes off that strange blob at the top, use them to widen the feet and maybe add one to the "decimal point" so there's room for ALL the letters, and there you go. Instead, they made a weird hunchbacked seven with feet. Or maybe a gallows.

Most grocery stores offer FREE first birthday cakes. But, if that would have been the free cake, I would have left the store without it! How sad. I bet they loved letting Jace shove his face with fistfulls of THAT cake.

Hilarious, as always! I just always feel bad for the recipients of the cakes you feature. Surely a 1 year old won't know the difference...but surely there were some disappointed parents. Still...very funny. :-)